Roumen.ganeff

Despite promising to filter personal data out, Recall still captures it.

A UK research team built carbon-14 diamond batteries that could potentially deliver power for thousands of years.

Donald Trump has picked a crypto bull to advise him on AI and cryptocurrency policy. On Thursday evening, the president-elect took to Truth Social to share that he was appointing former PayPal COO David Sacks to serve as his “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Trump said Sacks would also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.

“David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness. David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas,” Trump wrote, adding Sacks would “safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship.”

As an appointee to one of the president’s advisory councils, Sacks does not need to go through the usual Senate confirmation process required for cabinet picks and federal agency leads. Sacks does not have previous government experience. Trump instead highlighted his business credentials, pointing to his tenure at PayPal and later Yammer, which Sacks founded in 2008 and Microsoft acquired in 2012 for $1.2 billion. Sacks is also a close confidant of Elon Musk and provided part of the funding Musk used to buy Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. Sacks has broadly advocated for smaller government and less regulation, though he also pushed hard for the Biden administration to intervene when Silicon Valley Bank became insolvent in 2023.

“Where is Powell? Where is Yellen?” Sacks tweeted before regulators moved to fully protect deposits at SVB. “Stop this crisis NOW. Announce that all depositors will be safe. Place SVB with a Top 4 bank. Do this before Monday open or there will be contagion and the crisis will spread.”

Alongside Paul Atkins, who Trump picked to lead the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Sacks is likely to reshape US policy on cryptocurrency and AI. Under the Biden administration, the federal government sought to regulate the crypto industry. Sacks, however, is a vocal proponent of the industry. He is also a major investor in Solana and other crypto-related ventures such as Multicoin Capital.

As for Trump, appointing Sacks to his advisory council shows just how much his stance on crypto has changed. As recently as 2021, he said he thought Bitcoin seemed “like a scam,” and advocated for “very, very high” government regulation of the currency. That was before the crypto industry funneled $131 million during the 2024 election to get 274 pro-crypto candidates elected to the House of Representatives and 20 candidates to the Senate. During his campaign, Trump promised to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/crypto-evangelist-david-sacks-will-serve-as-trumps-ai-and-cryptocurrency-advisor-170522273.html?src=rss

'The Mountain' from Game of Thrones, AKA Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, has succeeded in deadlifting a record-breaking 282.624 PB of SSDs.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Tomb Raider series on Prime Video appears to be on the verge of casting Sophie Turner as its Lara Croft.

Deadline reports that Turner is currently in negotations to star as the famous video game heroine, who has previously been portrayed by Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander. Sophie Turner is best-known for her role as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, though she has also played Jean Grey in X-Men: Dark Phoenix and X-Men: Apocalypse.

IGN has reached out to Prime Video as well as Turner's representatives for confirmation.

Officially announced earlier this year, Prime Video's live-action Tomb Raider series is the latest attempt to adapt the seminal action-adventure series starring world-famous archaeologist and adventurer Lara Croft. Waller-Bridges is the show's writer and executive producer, having found fame for her work as the star and creator of Fleabag.

"There's room to do something really quite dangerous," Waller-Bridge previously said. "And if I can do something dangerous and exciting with Tomb Raider, I already have an audience of people who love Lara and hopefully will continue to. And that is a very unusual position to be in. It's the old Trojan horse."

Other than that brief tease, however, we know little about the approach the Amazon show will be taking to Lara Croft, with Turner's potential casting being the most substantial development thus far. Recently, Netflix aired its own anime take on Tomb Raider, with Hayley Atwell voicing the lead character.

For more on Lara Croft while we wait for more information on the Amazon series, read up on how to play the Tomb Raider games in chronological order.

Photo Credit: Leon Bennett/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Rob McElhenney’s Mythic Quest has set a Season 4 release date of January 29, 2025, and revealed a first-look at its new Side Quest spinoff series.

Season 4 of the hit Apple TV+ show will premiere early next year with two episodes to start, with single episodes dropping every following week until its finale arrives March 26. The tech company’s streaming platform also unveiled a batch of screenshots from Mythic Quest’s fourth season as well as a short summary teasing what to expect.

“Season four of ‘Mythic Quest’ brings stars Rob McElhenney, Charlotte Nicdao, David Hornsby, Danny Pudi, Ashly Burch, Imani Hakim, Jessie Ennis and Naomi Ekperigin under the same fluorescent office lights as the reunited team at Mythic Quest confronts new challenges amongst a changing video game landscape as stars rise, egos clash, relationships bloom, and everyone tries to have a little more work work life balance," the summary says.

With Mythic Quest Season 4 only a few months away, Apple also took the time to reveal the first few images from its upcoming spinoff, Side Quest. The show, which was previously known as Mere Mortals, is an anthology series set within Mythic Quest’s universe. Apple says it’s set to launch all four episodes on March 26, explaining that it “explores the lives of employees, players, and fans who are impacted by the game in an anthology format.”

Side Quest stars McElhenney, Anna Konkle, Derek Waters, William Stanford Davis, Bria Henderson, and more. Specific details on each episode’s plot have yet to be revealed. Today's first look reveals little in terms of story details but still shows off some of the many characters the spinoff will focus on.

McElhenney created the video game studio-centered Apple show alongside It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia collaborators Charlie Day and Megan Ganz and launched its first season in 2020. It’s continued to be a favorite among subscribers since its debut, and we’ve mostly enjoyed it to. While we gave Season 1, which originally aired under the title Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, a 6/10 in our original review, we gave its Season 2 premiere an 8/10. We liked Season 3 even more when it arrived in 2023, awarding it a 9/10.

We spoke with Ganz and McElhenney in early 2023 to learn more about the chances of a movie or game spinoff and how the series will continue following actor F. Murray Abraham’s exit. For more, you can read up on how the team behind the Apple show has done its best to stay true to the gaming industry.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Daisy Ridley's character Rey Skywalker will reportedly appear in "several" upcoming Star Wars films as she's been deemed the galaxy far, far away's "most valuable cinematic asset."

Anonymous sources close to Star Wars told The Hollywood Reporter as much, suggesting Disney puts more stock in the Sequel Trilogy star than, for example, Pedro Pascal's The Mandalorian or Original Trilogy protagonist Luke Skywalker, portrayed by Mark Hamill.

"She is the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways maybe the only one, Star Wars has right now," the source said. Various sources said Rey is set to play a role in several of the incoming Star Wars films though didn't clarify which ones.

Ridley is already confirmed to be returning in one: the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed sequel to the universally panned Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker. It will tell the story of Rey as she looks to rebuild the Jedi Order roughly 15 years after the events of that film.

But Rey wasn't expected to appear in any of the other announced films until now, at least if this report is accurate. Another trilogy of films from X-Men producer Simon Kinberg emerged earlier in November, however, so Rey is perhaps tied to these too.

There will be plenty of opportunity to appear in other cinematic outings though. The number of planned films now totals 14, and given practically nothing is known about any of them, Rey could easily find her way in.

A few can be written off, however. The only Star Wars film with a release date and some actual footage behind it is The Mandalorian & Grogu, which hits cinemas on May 22, 2026. This will be a sequel to The Mandalorian Season 3, which takes places decades before the Sequel Trilogy, and, assuming it doesn't feature a 30 year time jump, therefore can't feature Rey.

Another film will similarly be about the culmination of Star Wars shows such as Ahsoka from Lucasfilm's chief creative officer Dave Filoni and presumably won't feature Rey either. The Donald Glover-starring Lando Calrissian film faces an even grander extension of this problem, taking place during the Original Trilogy and therefore even further behind in the Star Wars timeline.

A film about the dawn of the Force from Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold goes even further, taking place thousands of years before the main Skywalker Saga, so this can be written off too. And one from Thor Ragnarok and Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi will also take place far away from these main film trilogies when it's eventually released around 2030.

Everything else is seemingly an option though, including a movie from Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, an entire trilogy from Star Wars: Episode 8 - The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, and another from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. The aforementioned Kinberg trilogy can be added to the list too.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Pizza Hut has melded the disparate worlds of bready cheesy foodstuffs and console gaming with the new PIZZAWRMR.

Hungry hackers have demanded that France’s Schneider Electric pay a $125,000 ransom in baguettes.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Dublin to attend a Halloween parade that never came, according to reporting by The Independent. Why did they do such a thing? It was all due to an AI-generated ad that promoted the fake event.

The My Spirit Halloween website advertised the completely fabricated Macnas Halloween Parade, which was supposed to take place from 7PM to 9PM on the streets of Dublin. News of the parade quickly spread online, and it even received a news ranking on Google.

So, yeah, thousands of people put on their Halloween costumes and stood on the street for a couple of hours, waiting for an event that would never happen. They even left room in the street for the parade to pass by. That’s thoughtful, but also a bit sad.

The situation forced Ireland’s police force to put out a message to urge would-be parade-goers to “disperse safely.” A spokesperson for the organization said that “contrary to information being circulated online, no Halloween parade is scheduled to take place in Dublin city center this evening or tonight.”

Local city councilor Janice Boylan expressed disappointment over the whole situation.“Everyone is trying to have a fun and safe Halloween. Having a parade to go to sounded really good,” she said. “I know an awful lot of people turned up. It’s a terrible pity.”

The My Spirit Halloween listing has been taken down, but there remains the question as to why it turned up in the first place. It’s worth noting that this is a different entity from the popular seasonal retailer Spirit Halloween.

The My Spirit Halloween website looks to come from Pakistan and posts all kinds of AI-generated content like the ad that caused all of this trouble, according to Yahoo News. This particular post happened to get picked up by TikTok and Google, causing the rapid dissemination of the, literal, fake news.

It’s pretty wild, right? An AI-generated post likely created in Pakistan caused thousands of actual people to take to the streets halfway across the globe. What is that curse again? Oh yeah. “May you live in interesting times.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/an-ai-generated-ad-left-thousands-of-dubliners-waiting-for-a-halloween-parade-that-never-came-162550781.html?src=rss

Hollywood seems to be running out of new ideas, which could be a big reason why its $200 million movies are tanking. From various Marvel and DC projects to prestige films like Killers of the Flower Moon, formerly sure things have been emerging as duds these days.

But as the original John Wick movie hits its 10th anniversary this week, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how Hollywood failed to recognize the way one hitman’s homicidal rampage to avenge his dead dog actually wrote the new playbook on how to build original movie franchises in this IP-era of Hollywood.

Since the Baba Yaga’s debut in 2014, there have been a ton of clones (Monkey Man, Sisu, Nobody, Violent Night, and even In a Valley of Violence, which is about Ethan Hawke getting revenge after his dog is murdered—but in the Old West). Hollywood has no problem cloning successes, but it never quite figured out what specifically made John Wick such a worthy investment. If it did, we’d be drowning in lower-budget original IP today.

John Wick’s producer, Basil Iwanyk, spelled out the secret of the franchise’s success in the book They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, saying:

“I was in the market for action movies. Action movies you could make for $25 million plus or minus five. It’s the most obvious thing in the world, but nobody seems to understand that. If you hit the number right, which is not hard to do, your downside’s protected, but you still have a tremendous upside.”

I’d say after four entries, $1 billion in box office revenue, and a TV series spin-off, Iwanyk nailed it, which is wild considering it all started with a $20-$30 million investment. But when Iwanyk says “it’s not hard to do,” he’s being modest. A few lucky things had to fall into place for John Wick to come in on budget and for it to turn out as well as it did.

The film’s first lucky break was finding an action star in a slump.

Breaking the Slump

Listen, there’s no doubt that Keanu Reeves is a star, but, in the early 2010s, his stock was definitely down. Movies like 47 Ronin, Man of Tai Chi, and The Day the Earth Stood Still sure made it seem like the heights of Reeves’ Matrix days were behind him.

It was around this time when Reeves’ agent was trying to drum up some action work for his client when he reached out to his old friend, Basil Iwanyk, who sent over a freshly acquired script about a 75-year-old hitman who goes on a spree after his dog is murdered. This was accompanied by a note for Reeves: “Clearly, you’re not 75.”

This “hitman coming out of retirement” role was perfect for the actor—an action star on the verge of his 50s—who understood the discipline of learning complex fight choreography, and which would serve him well when portraying the Baba Yaga. Frankly, he also needed a win.

And Iwanyk needed someone like Reeves, a recognizable face for the poster, a proven box-office draw (albeit not at that moment), and much-needed ammo for an independent film producer trying to keep his antsy financiers at bay.

But as an indie action movie, if Iwanyk wanted to splurge on Number One on the call sheet, he was going to have to cut back on budget elsewhere.

Enter directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch.

Being Thrifty

The pair go way back in stunt work. Stahelski worked as a stunt double for Brandon Lee on The Crow and for Reeves on The Matrix movies. Leitch also had an impressive stunt resume, including for titles like V for Vendetta, I Am Legend, and Blade.

But Stahelski and Leitch weren’t just stunt guys. They were also entrepreneurs, and in 1997 they had a great idea. The two started the action design company 87eleven, which helps filmmakers choreograph and create pre-vis movie fights. Basically, they used their gym to test out and improvise fight choreography and camera angles that would inform how the scene would eventually be shot.

Action movies are expensive, but 87eleven’s ability to design fights in a gym with a small, relatively inexpensive team is a huge boon for a small-budgeted action flick, because it makes the creative process cheaper, thus allowing for more of the budget to be put on screen. Plus, when they actually shoot the scene, it's all business. They already know the moves they need to execute and the shots needed to make it all work in the editing room.

So while Reeves is just stacking bodies during a home invasion, or in a night club, or in a parking lot, almost no time was wasted while shooting because Stahelski and Leitch did their homework. Everything, from the blocking, to the camera work, to the digital squibs were planned before anyone walked on set.

Remember, Iwanyk was convinced that if he could make John Wick for under $25 million, there was no way he could lose money. Using the 87eleven method allowed the team to think cheap and minimize the time needed to do the expensive part: shooting the fights.

Shooting the Fights

The necessity for the film to come in on budget no matter what led to one of the franchise’s oft-imitated aesthetic decisions: the long, unbroken action takes. When the first film came out, the filmmakers claimed it was a stylistic choice. But by the time John Wick 3 arrived, the truth was revealed: Most of what they did with long takes was because they couldn’t afford a second camera.

It’s just another example of the old adage “limitation breeds creativity.” Arguably, John Wick’s primary stylistic contribution to the genre was born because they didn’t have the budget to shoot their action scenes the way a larger-budgeted movie would have. Later, when The High Table minted more coins for bigger sequels, Stahelski (who would take on sole director credit for the follow-up films) didn’t go to the bigger-budget way of doing things. Instead, he and the team innovated more (but we’ll get to the sequels in a bit).

Car Chases on the Cheap

Fight scenes alone do not a great action franchise make: Car chases are also a must. John Wick’s climactic car chase—where John basically uses his car as a weapon to swipe, hit, and otherwise incapacitate the goons of Michael Nyqvist’s Viggo long enough to reach out and shoot them—has a little bit of everything that a great car chase needs: e-brake 180s, donuts, cars getting absolutely totaled... and falling from high places. It’s all there!

Nothing about shooting car chases is cheap. But just because the production wasn’t able to flash the cash yet, it was still able to squeeze in a quality third-act chase, and it’s a masterclass in cutting corners to save money without sacrificing the cinematic thrills. Stahelski and Leitch made two really thrifty choices to pull it off.

First, the chase takes place in one location. While I’m sure it wasn’t cheap to lock down the Brooklyn Navy Yard, it had to be cheaper than paying to close down multiple city streets, which in New York can definitely be pricey. By localizing the car chase to one location, and shooting at night when there’s not a ton of dock work happening, the production was able to stretch its budget.

The other thing they did was use reasonably priced modern cars. Vehicles like Wick’s Dodge Challenger and the mob’s Chevy Tahoes are such ubiquitous cars in the U.S., they look like they rolled off a Hertz lot that morning. Plus, to get all the shots they needed, the team had to buy multiple versions of each car. Sure, Challengers and Tahoes aren’t the cheapest, but they are by no means luxury or classic cars, which when used could dramatically increase the cost of a chase.

Would it have been nice to see John tool around in that sick Chevelle we see in later films, doing donuts and shooting goons? Sure. But does the car John was driving make or break the scene? No. And that’s a big part of what made the John Wick filmmakers so good at their job: They made calculated choices on how to maximize their budget… for maximum action.

When John Wick was released in 2014, it made $86 million worldwide on its $25 million budget, proving Iwanyk to be correct on his gamble. That almost 4x return from just the box office, never mind physical and digital media sales and streaming rights, would prove to be more than enough money to double down on a follow-up and do what sequels do best: Escalate the action.

"I was in the market for action movies you could make for $25 million plus or minus five. It’s the most obvious thing in the world ... If you hit the number right ... your downside’s protected, but you still have a tremendous upside." - Basil Iwanyk

The Sequels: Doubling Down on the Action

One of the main things that made the John Wick franchise so successful was that the franchise’s formula was distilled so clearly in the first one, and so all the filmmakers had to do was improve on it in the sequels. John Wick 1 was so elegantly simple plot-wise that it allowed the filmmakers to focus on the action. And because the success of the franchise has been in leveraging its creativity to not think outside the box, but in it, every sequel has built upon that philosophy.

John Wick: Chapter 2

For John Wick: Chapter 2, the budget was doubled to $40 million, and you can see where it went within the first minute of the film.

Gone are the cars that look like they were rented that morning. John could now afford to fuck up a few classic Mustangs as he tears around a taxi depot wiping out what’s left of the Russian mob from the first film.

The fight scenes also featured more complex combat styles. Reeves trained for months, learning 3-gun shooting, which made the film’s gun fu fights significantly more sophisticated than the first.

And then there was the house of mirrors set, an excellent piece of production design that took all the elements of an iconic John Wick scene—brutal hand-to-hand combat, interesting lighting, long-take camera work, and utilizing the location as an active character in the fight—and used the budget to push the sequence into another echelon of production value that the first film couldn’t hope to afford.

John Wick: Chapter 2 was another success for the franchise, making $171 million worldwide—not Avengers money, but enough to ensure that being “excommunicado” wasn’t going to stop The High Table from exacting their revenge on John… while cameras rolled, of course.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

For John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, the budget almost doubled again, this time to $75 million. And again the Wick team found success by working with their limitations and using more of the same ingredients that made the previous entries successful.

The film’s production design is the perfect example of this. Stahelski and company needed to design a new set that would push the John Wick philosophy that a place could be character itself. And what’s cooler than having ninjas hiding in a house made out of glass where you can’t hide anything?

Talk about limitations breeding creativity. To pull off this illusion, multiple departments had to work together to realize a setting that offered tantalizingly small slivers of shadow for the ninjas to hide in plain sight. But that was all just lighting and camera blocking; let us not forget the brutal fight choreography, stunt work, and many glass panes that had to give their lives for this fight to be so exhilarating.

The glass house set might have been the film’s most sophisticated piece of production design, but the film’s most sophisticated fight was definitely the one involving Halle Berry’s “dog fu” at the mint. Her character’s Belgian Malinos were trained since birth for this fight scene, not only to listen and act on command, but more importantly to stay calm on set… especially one as hectic as a John Wick production.

Safety is paramount, not only for the dogs but also the stunt performers. When 60 pounds of murder floof is coming for your arm, your leg, or your balls, you want to make sure the dog is hitting its mark.

The Malinos fight wasn’t the only sequence where Parabellum was pushing the limits of animal action, though. Reeves did extensive equestrian training so he could do all the stunt riding in the horse chase through the streets of Brooklyn. They even built a huge rig to shoot the scene. It did pretty much everything: held all the safety wires for the star and the horse; had cameras mounted everywhere; and even had programmable lights to make it look like John Wick and his trusty steed were running past street lights.

While all this was done for real, the crew did have to lay down rubber pads on the road to make it safe for the horse to run on, which meant all the streets had to be digitally replaced.

In fact, this was the first Wick film to lean heavily into visual effects. The motorcycle katana fight on the Verrazano Bridge was pretty much all CGI, and they relied on CGI for the glass and some throwing knifes in a knife fight—mostly because that was probably the only safe way to shoot these things.

Parabellum was the franchise’s biggest success at that time, bringing in over $327 million worldwide. That’s the kind of return that gets you a nine-figure budget for a sequel, and for John Wick: Chapter 4, that’s exactly what happened.

John Wick: Chapter 4

Coming in at two hours and 50 minutes, with only 380 words spoken by John Wick, Chapter 4 provides an obnoxious amount of time for action that Chad Stahelski gleefully filled.

With a $100 million budget, they designed action sequences so bombastic the filmmakers could actually tweak the tried and true formula for John’s final showdown with The High Table. The Arc de Triomphe “car fu” fight is the perfect example of this expanded ambition, and arguably the most sophisticated sequence of the franchise. It's a car chase, a shootout, and a brawl all in one.

Despite not actually being shot on location at the Arc, it’s not any less impressive, mostly because all the stunts and action are still real. Besides all the training and prep, it took a small army of stunt people to do all the driving, combat, and collisions, using dummy cars—that would be replaced in post—to make the impacts feel more real. The result is an action scene that used CGI not to fake any of the stunts, but to transpose the action from an airport in Germany to the Arc.

But the one thing that’s for sure not fake: Keanu Reeves power-sliding to pick up his gun. It took a few takes, but he actually did it.

This sequel also features multiple locales that prove Chapter 4 was at the top of the series’ set-design game. The Osaka Continental fight alone could have been the climax in any of the other movies, but that was just an amuse-bouche for Killa’s (Scott Adkins) night club and the stair fight, which all do what John Wick production design is known for: visually stylized locations that do their part to get in John’s way, while still not giving all the nameless goons a prayer of a chance.

The High Table

It may have taken four films for The High Table to finally put John Wick into an early grave, but they provided some of the most iconic action to come out of Hollywood in the past decade. It’s insane to think that John Wick managed to single-handedly fight his way into what’s left of our monoculture, despite not being a beloved comic, novel, or intellectual property of some sort. While the sequels continued to expand the aesthetic horizons of modern action sequences by going bigger and bigger, none have matched the brilliance of the first.

The first John Wick’s plot makes the viewer instantly empathize with the reluctant hero, which is the key to the whole franchise. Basil Iwanyk understood that when you pan for gold, if you’re really lucky, you might not find huge nuggets, but a little bit of gold dust. The empathy that was baked into the plot of John Wick 1 was the gold dust, and all it took was $25 million to prove there was a vein of gold just waiting, rich with action.

To me, John Wick is an even more impressive success than the MCU, not because of the subjective quality of the films, or the amount of money made at the box office, but because at one time John Wick was just a movie script on a pile of other scripts. It had no fans. It had no outside hype. It was just fate. Basil Iwanyk was looking for a $25 million action movie to produce, he stumbled on an aging hit man tale, and over four films turned it into one of the few new original movie franchises to gross over $1 billion. The best stories always have humble beginnings. If Hollywood wants to show audiences something new and cool, it just needs to start small and give them time to grow.

Warning: This article contains full spoilers for WandaVision and the first five episodes of Agatha All Along! For more on the latest live-action Marvel series, check out our biggest burning questions from Agatha All Along.

Marvel's Agatha All Along has arrived on Disney+, kicking off one of the strangest MCU projects to date. The series picks up where WandaVision left off in 2021, following what happens when Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness tries to regain control of her life and walk the Witches Road. Joining her is Joe Locke's character, introduced only as "Teen." But thanks to Episode 5, we finally have confirmation of Teen's true identity.

As many viewers predicted, Locke is actually playing Wiccan, the magically created son of Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany's Vision. And where Billy Kaplan appears, his twin brother Tommy Shepherd surely can't be far behind. Let's break down the history of Wanda's twin children and why these two characters could wind up playing a prominent role in the MCU going forward. These are the topics we cover here:

• Who Are Wiccan and Speed?
• The Origins of Scarlet Witch's Children
• Billy and Tommy's Powers
• Billy and Tommy Maximoff? Wanda's Convoluted Family Tree
• Wiccan and Speed's Superhero Teams
• Wiccan and Speed in the MCU
• Will the Young Avengers Join the MCU?

Who Are Wiccan and Speed?

Like so many mutants in the Marvel Universe, Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd grew up thinking they were perfectly ordinary children. That is, until their powers began to manifest as teenagers. But these two long-lost twin brothers are unusual even among the mutant community. They're the sons of Scarlet Witch and Vision, making them members of quite possibly the most convoluted family tree in the entire Marvel Universe.

Though they're both young and still learning the true potential of their powers, both Wiccan and Speed have already left a mark on the Marvel Universe. As regular members of the Young Avengers and other superhero squads, they're more than happy to keep the family legacy alive and fight against whatever evils might arise.

They're the sons of Scarlet Witch and Vision, making them members of quite possibly the most convoluted family tree in the entire Marvel Universe.

The Origins of Scarlet Witch's Children

Wiccan and Speed were created by writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung, with Wiccan debuting in 2005's Young Avengers #1 and Speed following in Young Avengers #10.

Given that their mother is a spell-caster and their father is an android, it goes without saying that Wiccan and Speed have a pretty unusual origin story. Wanda and Vision have shared a tumultuous romantic history over the years. Because Vision is an artificial being known as a Synthezoid, he's not actually capable of fathering biological children of his own. In response, Wanda magically creates two twin sons to complete their nuclear family. They were born in 1986's The Vision and the Scarlet Witch Vol. 2, #12.

That's only the beginning of a very convoluted origin, however. Long story short, Wanda eventually learns her sons' souls are formed from an aspect of the demon lord Mephisto. After Mephisto reclaims that energy, Wanda and Vision's children are seemingly wiped out of existence and Wanda is made to forget she ever had children. Sadly, those memories are never entirely scrubbed away, which leads to some very dark days for Earth's Mightiest Heroes in 2004's Avengers Disassembled.

The good news is that Wanda and Vision's children weren't destroyed. Rather, their souls are reincarnated in new bodies to be raised by new surrogate parents. Once Billy and Tommy come to grips with their growing powers and their direct connection to the Avengers, their shared superhero destiny truly begins. Both have overcome plenty of adversity already, with Billy facing regular bullying due to his being gay and Tommy becoming an unwitting test subject in a sinister government facility.

Wiccan and Speed Cheat Sheet

First Appearances: Young Avengers (2005) #1 (Wiccan), Young Avengers (2005) #10 (Speed), The Vision and the Scarlet Witch (1986) Vol. 2, #12 (as babies)

Creators: Allan Heinberg & Jim Cheung

Current Team: Strikeforce (Wiccan)

Recommended Reading: Young Avengers by Allan Heinberg & Jim Cheung: The Complete Collection, Avengers: The Children's Crusade, Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie: The Complete Collection

Billy and Tommy's Powers

In terms of their powers, Wiccan and Speed are practically carbon copies of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, respectively. As his name suggests, Speed can run at supersonic speeds and can even move fast enough to vibrate through solid barriers. He also has enhanced strength and durability, allowing his body to endure those extreme forces. Speed even has one ability his uncle doesn't. He can accelerate the kinetic energy of objects he touches, causing them to vibrate and explode.

Like Wanda, Billy is a sorcerer whose powers are derived from his mutant biology rather than any supernatural artifacts or magical training. He can alter reality on a fundamental level, allowing him to do everything from fly to teleport to fire destructive energy blasts. Because he has little formal training, Billy doesn't have a great deal of control over his powers. He often has to focus his mind by saying, "I want to [insert spell here]" during battle.

When he first appeared on the superhero scene, Billy used the codename Asgardian rather than Wiccan, with his costume and emphasis on lightning-based spells both suggesting he was somehow connected to Thor. However, that proved not to be the case, and Billy has since changed codenames to better reflect his true nature.

Wiccan is a figure of great interest to the rest of Marvel's magical community, with everyone from Loki to Doctor Strange predicting Billy will one day grow to become one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Billy gets a taste of this future when he briefly becomes an all-powerful being called the Demiurge, but he quickly decides he's not ready to wield such power.

Billy and Tommy Maximoff? Wanda's Convoluted Family Tree

When it comes to Marvel bloodlines, the Maximoff family tree rivals the Summers family tree for its sheer number of members and confusing, contradictory history. As we've already discussed, Billy and Tommy are technically the children of Scarlet Witch and Vision. However, they aren't really related to Vision by blood (since he has none). And because they were both reincarnated in new bodies after that nasty Mephisto business, they each technically have their own biological parents as well. Because of that, they don't actually use the Maximoff name, even if they are part of that complex genealogical tapestry.

It doesn't help that Wanda and her brother Pietro have a deeply confusing family tree even without factoring Billy and Tommy into things. When the characters first debuted in 1964's The X-Men #4, they were depicted simply as Magneto's underlings in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Initially the duo believe the Romani couple Django and Marya Maximoff are their parents. Later, they're given reason to believe they're the offspring of WWII-era heroes The Whizzer and Miss America (which probably explains the apparent Whizzer cameo in WandaVision Episode 2). But then they discover they're actually the children of Magneto himself, a fact that proves just as surprising to the Master of Magnetism. Because Magneto has another daughter Polaris, that means Wanda and Pietro have a sister.

That plot twist remained in effect until 2014's AXIS, where a corrupted Wanda attempts to cast a curse on her family members and finds only Pietro is affected. It turns out Magneto isn't their father after all, nor are they actually mutants. The twins later learn their true mother is Natalya Maximoff, a witch and a relative of Django and Marya. Natalya gave up her children in order to protect them from the dangers of witchcraft. The twins were experimented upon by the High Evolutionary as infants, before being returned to the Maximoffs to be raised in obscurity. As for the true source of their powers, even the High Evolutionary seems uncertain at this point.

It remains to be seen if Marvel will shake up the Maximoff family tree yet again. It's widely assumed this latest retcon was a result of Marvel's feud with Fox over the X-Men's film rights and a way to sever Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's ties to the X-Men franchise. But with Disney's purchase of Fox, there's no longer a need to draw that line. Does this mean the family connection between Magneto, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver will be restored? That may depend on how the MCU handles Wanda's back-story and the introduction of teenage Wiccan and Speed.

Wiccan and Speed's Superhero Teams

Wiccan and Speed are most closely associated with the Young Avengers, having served on pretty much every incarnation of this teen superhero team. Wiccan is actually a founding member, as he joins forces with his boyfriend Hulkling (a shape-shifting Kree/Skrull hybrid), underage super-soldier Patriot (grandson of one of the original Captain America test subjects) and the time-travelling Iron Lad (find out more about him in our Kang the Conqueror explainer) to fill the void left after the Avengers have disbanded. Tommy joins the team shortly after, along with new Hawkeye Kate Bishop.

While the Young Avengers roster has shifted a bit in the years since, both Wiccan and Speed tend to be fixtures in that lineup. Wiccan has also stepped up to the big leagues and served as a full-fledged Avenger. He was a member of the short-lived Avengers Idea Mechanics, a re-branded version of the evil science organization AIM spearheaded by its new owner Sunspot. More recently, Wiccan has reluctantly joined a team called Strikeforce, as he and other heroes like Blade, Spectrum and the Winter Soldier deal with being replaced by shape-shifting impostors. Marvel is also introduced a remixed Guardians of the galaxy lineup in 2021 that included both Wiccan and Hulkling.

The Young Avengers also have a long history of joining forces with the Runaways, another teen superhero team who inspired the Hulu series. Their original team-up occurred during the backdrop of the Civil War crossover, and it's become something of a trend for the two teams to reunite during major Marvel conflicts.

Wiccan and Speed in the MCU

While Wiccan and Speed don't have a long track record of appearing outside Marvel's comics, that's slowly been changing in recent years. Theyve appeared in a handful of Marvel video games, including as playable characters in LEGO Marvel's Avengers. Wiccan is also a playable character in Marvel Future Fight and was available as an alternate skin for Scarlet Witch in Marvel Heroes before that much-loved action RPG was terminated.

Both characters have now appeared in the MCU, though Marvel is still very much in the setup phase and has yet to establish Billy and Tommy as fully realized teen superheroes. Billy and Tommy are first introduced in 2021's WandaVision, which sees Wanda cast a spell that transforms the town of Westview, NJ into a living TV sitcom. Wanda even uses her magic to create sons to complete her family, and those sons rapidly grow from infancy to preteens in the span of an episode (with Julian Hilliard playing Billy and Jett Klyne playing Tommy).

Unfortunately, when Wanda is finally snapped back to reality and ends the spell holding Westview hostage, she's forced to give up her magically generated children and her temporarily revived husband. That paves the way for 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as a grieving Wanda uses the cursed book known as The Darkhold to navigate the multiverse in search of a world where she can reunite with her children. But after finding a version of her children and realizing she's nothing more than a terrifying monster in their eyes, Wanda seemingly sacrifices herself to destroy Mount Wundagore and the Darkhold.

That's where Agatha All Along comes in. In this series, Hahn's Agatha Harkness is still imprisoned inside a false reality in Westview, a punishment for her role in manipulating Wanda. Agatha escapes and forms a new coven of witches to help her walk the Witches' Road and regain her lost power. Joining her on that quest is Joe Locke's character. A boy known only as "Teen," he carries a mysterious hex obscuring his true identity.

From the beginning, Marvel fans speculated that Locke is actually playing a teenage version of Billy Kaplan/Maximoff, and that theory is finally confirmed in Episode 5. There, Teen manifests his magical powers for the first time and summons the same headband that his mother Wanda wore in the series finale of Wandavision. And if there was still any doubt as to Teen's true identity, Agatha taunts him with the line, "You're just like your mother."

Clearly, just as in the comics, Billy and Tommy were reincarnated in new forms when Wanda wiped them out of existence in WandaVision. But will Billy ever come face-to-face with Wanda, or is she truly gone? And when will Tommy come back into the picture? Thsoe are questions that have yet to be answered.

Will the Young Avengers Join the MCU?

Ever since the release of Avengers: Endgame, we've suspected Marvel Studios is slowly paving the way for the Young Avengers in a future Phase. The debut of Wiccan and Speed in WandaVision only lends further fuel to that fire.

At this point, nearly every core member of that team has either been introduced in some form. Scott Lang's daughter Cassie has already appeared in several movies, with Endgame even conveniently aging her up to become a teenager, and Cassie becoming Stature in 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop starred in 2021's Hawkeye series. Kang the Conqueror has joined the MCU, which means Iron Lad could well follow. Patriot appeared (in non-powered form) in 2021's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

That only leaves Hulkling, and we could easily see him debuting in one of a number of upcoming MCU projects. And there's no reason Marvel couldn't work other teen heroes into the MCU's version of the Young Avengers, like Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel. In fact, a post-credits scene in 2023's The Marvels suggests Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan will be a founding member of the team.

Are you excited for a possible Young Avengers MCU team-up? Vote in our poll to let us know which of these heroes you most want to see fighting alongside Steinfeld's Hawkeye and Vellani's Ms. Marvel:

Note: this article was originally published on 1/22/2021 and updated on 10/10/2024 with the latest information from Agatha All Along.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Tesla has introduced a robotaxi called Cybercab during its "We, Robot" event at Warner Bros. Discovery's studio in California, six months after Elon Musk revealed that the company was going to launch one. Musk made his way to the stage on a Cybercab, which has no steering wheels or pedals, announcing that "there's 20 more" where it came from. He talked about how our current modes of transportation "suck" and how how cars are on standby all the time. A car that's autonomous could be used more, he said. "With autonomy, you get your time back... Autonomous cars are going to become 10 times safer." 

Musk said the costs of autonomous transport will be so low that they will be comparable to mass transit. In time, he said the operating cost of the robotaxi to be 20 cents a mile, 30 to 40 cents with taxes. He confirmed to the audience that people will be able to buy one and that Tesla expects to sell the Cybercab for below $30,000. 

The Tesla CEO envisions a future wherein people own several robotaxis, managing a fleet like a "shepherd," that can earn them money through a ridesharing network. When asked when the model will be available, he replied that Tesla will start by making fully autonomous unsupervised Full Sell Driving available on the Model 3 and Model Y in Texas and California. Musk said that the Cybercab is expected to go into production before 2027, but he himself admitted that he tends to be "highly optimistic with timeframes." And he does — he said way back in 2019 that Tesla will "have over a million robotaxis on the road" within a year.

Tesla

Talking about the Cybercab's technology, he said that it uses AI and vision. Tesla has long dropped radars and sensors that other robotaxis like Waymo's use extensively. Because of that, he said that it doesn't need expensive equipment, and Tesla can keep manufacturing costs low. Notably, the Cybercab doesn't come with a charging port and uses inductive charging instead. 

Reuters reported back in April that Musk ordered the company to "go all in" on robotaxis built on its small-vehicle platform. Musk previously said that the model was going to be unveiled on August 8, but he later announced that the company's robotaxi event will be pushed back to October after he requested "an important design change to the front." The delay would also give the company extra time to "show off a few other things," he explained. The Cybercab that Tesla presented to the audience today is all silver and seems to have taken design cues from the Cybertruck. It doesn't have a back windshield and has doors that open upwards. 

Tesla

In addition to reporting the robotaxi's existence, Reuters revealed in April that Tesla scrapped its plans for an affordable, $25,000 electric vehicle. While Musk called it a lie, another report by Electrek backed Reuters' story and cited "sources familiar with the matter" who reportedly told the publication that the low-cost EV's development has been postponed.

After talking about the Cybercab, Musk briefly introduced the Robovan — an autonomous van that can carry up to 20 people and transport goods. It'll get the costs of travel down even further, he said, since it could transport big groups like sports teams. Finally, Musk brought out a parade of Tesla's humanoid Optimus robots. Musk said Tesla has made dramatic progress on its development over the past year and that in the future, it could teach your kids, mow your lawn and even be your friend. He believes Tesla could sell its Optimus robots, which mingled with the audience and served drinks during the event, for between $20,000 to $30,000. 

Tesla

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/tesla-unveils-its-cybercab-robotaxi-032132013.html?src=rss

Scientists on the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully 3D printed a metal part in space - an out-of-this-world first. The achievement is significant, as this 3D fabrication capability is thought to be key for the success of future long-duration missions.

North Korean hackers Lazarus Group pose as financial firms to provide malware disguised as a job opportunity.

It is with great sadness that I find myself penning the hardest news post I’ve ever needed to write here at AnandTech. After over 27 years of covering the wide – and wild – world of computing hardware, today is AnandTech’s final day of publication.

For better or worse, we’ve reached the end of a long journey – one that started with a review of an AMD processor, and has ended with the review of an AMD processor. It’s fittingly poetic, but it is also a testament to the fact that we’ve spent the last 27 years doing what we love, covering the chips that are the lifeblood of the computing industry.

A lot of things have changed in the last quarter-century – in 1997 NVIDIA had yet to even coin the term “GPU” – and we’ve been fortunate to watch the world of hardware continue to evolve over the time period. We’ve gone from boxy desktop computers and laptops that today we’d charitably classify as portable desktops, to pocket computers where even the cheapest budget device puts the fastest PC of 1997 to shame.

The years have also brought some monumental changes to the world of publishing. AnandTech was hardly the first hardware enthusiast website, nor will we be the last. But we were fortunate to thrive in the past couple of decades, when so many of our peers did not, thanks to a combination of hard work, strategic investments in people and products, even more hard work, and the support of our many friends, colleagues, and readers.

Still, few things last forever, and the market for written tech journalism is not what it once was – nor will it ever be again. So, the time has come for AnandTech to wrap up its work, and let the next generation of tech journalists take their place within the zeitgeist.

It has been my immense privilege to write for AnandTech for the past 19 years – and to manage it as its editor-in-chief for the past decade. And while I carry more than a bit of remorse in being AnandTech’s final boss, I can at least take pride in everything we’ve accomplished over the years, whether it’s lauding some legendary products, writing technology primers that still remain relevant today, or watching new stars rise in expected places. There is still more that I had wanted AnandTech to do, but after 21,500 articles, this was a good start.

And while the AnandTech staff is riding off into the sunset, I am happy to report that the site itself won’t be going anywhere for a while. Our publisher, Future PLC, will be keeping the AnandTech website and its many articles live indefinitely. So that all of the content we’ve created over the years remains accessible and citable. Even without new articles to add to the collection, I expect that many of the things we’ve written over the past couple of decades will remain relevant for years to come – and remain accessible just as long.

The AnandTech Forums will also continue to be operated by Future’s community team and our dedicated troop of moderators. With forum threads going back to 1999 (and some active members just as long), the forums have a history almost as long and as storied as AnandTech itself (wounded monitor children, anyone?). So even when AnandTech is no longer publishing articles, we’ll still have a place for everyone to talk about the latest in technology – and have those discussions last longer than 48 hours.

Finally, for everyone who still needs their technical writing fix, our formidable opposition of the last 27 years and fellow Future brand, Tom’s Hardware, is continuing to cover the world of technology. There are a couple of familiar AnandTech faces already over there providing their accumulated expertise, and the site will continue doing its best to provide a written take on technology news.

So Many Thank Yous

As I look back on everything AnandTech has accomplished over the past 27 years, there are more than a few people, groups, and companies that I would like to thank on behalf of both myself and AnandTech as a whole.

First and foremost, I cannot thank enough all the editors who have worked for AnandTech over the years. There are far more of you than I can ever name, but AnandTech’s editors have been the lifeblood of the site, bringing over their expertise and passion to craft the kind of deep, investigative articles that AnandTech is best known for. These are the finest people I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with, and it shouldn’t come as any surprise that these people have become even bigger successes in their respective fields. Whether it’s hardware and software development, consulting and business analysis, or even launching rockets into space, they’ve all been rock stars whom I’ve been fortunate to work with over the past couple of decades.

Ian Cutress, Anton Shilov, and Gavin Bonshor at Computex 2019

And a special shout out to the final class of AnandTech editors, who have been with us until the end, providing the final articles that grace this site. Gavin Bonshor, Ganesh TS, E. Fylladitakis, and Anton Shilov have all gone above and beyond to meet impossible deadlines and go half-way around the world to report on the latest in technology.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the man himself, Anand Lal Shimpi, who started this site out of his bedroom 27 years ago. While Anand retired from the world of tech journalism a decade ago, the standard he set for quality and the lessons he taught all of us have continued to resonate within AnandTech to this very day. And while it would be tautological to say that there would be no AnandTech without Anand, it’s none the less true – the mark on the tech publishing industry that we’ve been able to make all started with him.

MWC 2014: Ian Cutress, Anand Lal Shimpi, Joshua Ho

I also want to thank the many, many hardware and software companies we’ve worked with over the years. More than just providing us review samples and technical support, we’ve been given unique access to some of the greatest engineers in the industry. People who have built some of the most complex chips ever made, and casually forgotten more about the subject than we as tech journalists will ever know. So being able to ask those minds stupid questions, and seeing the gears turn in their heads as they explain their ideas, innovations, and thought processes has been nothing short of an incredible learning experience. We haven’t always (or even often) seen eye-to-eye on matters with all of the companies we've covered, but as the last 27 years have shown, sharing the amazing advancements behind the latest technologies has benefited everyone, consumers and companies alike.

Thank yous are also due to AnandTech’s publishers over the years – Future PLC, and Purch before them. AnandTech’s publishers have given us an incredible degree of latitude to do things the AnandTech way, even when it meant taking big risks or not following the latest trend.  A more cynical and controlling publisher could have undoubtedly found ways to make more money from the AnandTech website, but the resulting content would not have been AnandTech. We’ve enjoyed complete editorial freedom up to our final day, and that’s not something so many other websites have had the luxury to experience. And for that I am thankful.

CES 2016: Ian Cutress, Ganesh TS, Joshua Ho, Brett Howse, Brandon Chester, Billy Tallis

Finally, I cannot thank our many readers enough. Whether you’ve been following AnandTech since 1997 or you’ve just recently discovered us, everything we’ve published here we’ve done for you. To show you what amazing things were going on in the world of technology, the radical innovations driving the next generation of products, or a sober review that reminds us all that there’s (almost) no such thing as bad products, just bad pricing. Our readers have kept us on our toes, pushing us to do better, and holding us responsible when we’ve strayed from our responsibilities.

Ultimately, a website is only as influential as its readers, otherwise we would be screaming into the void that is the Internet. For all the credit we can claim as writers, all of that pales in comparison to our readers who have enjoyed our content, referenced it, and shared it with the world. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for sticking with us for the past 27 years.

Continuing the Fight Against the Cable TV-ification of the Web

Finally, I’d like to end this piece with a comment on the Cable TV-ification of the web. A core belief that Anand and I have held dear for years, and is still on our About page to this day, is AnandTech’s rebuke of sensationalism, link baiting, and the path to shallow 10-o'clock-news reporting. It has been our mission over the past 27 years to inform and educate our readers by providing high-quality content – and while we’re no longer going to be able to fulfill that role, the need for quality, in-depth reporting has not changed. If anything, the need has increased as social media and changing advertising landscapes have made shallow, sensationalistic reporting all the more lucrative.

Speaking of TV: Anand Hosting The AGN Hardware Show (June 1998)

For all the tech journalists out there right now – or tech journalists to be – I implore you to remain true to yourself, and to your readers' needs. In-depth reporting isn’t always as sexy or as exciting as other avenues, but now, more than ever, it’s necessary to counter sensationalism and cynicism with high-quality reporting and testing that is used to support thoughtful conclusions. To quote Anand: “I don't believe the web needs to be academic reporting or sensationalist garbage - as long as there's a balance, I'm happy.”

Signing Off One Last Time

Wrapping things up, it has been my privilege over the last 19 years to write for one of the most impactful tech news websites that has ever existed. And while I’m heartbroken that we’re at the end of AnandTech’s 27-year journey, I can take solace in everything we’ve been able to accomplish over the years. All of which has been made possible thanks to our industry partners and our awesome readers.

On a personal note, this has been my dream job; to say I’ve been fortunate would be an understatement. And while I’ll no longer be the editor-in-chief of AnandTech, I’m far from being done with technology as a whole. I’ll still be around on Twitter/X, and we’ll see where my own journey takes me next.

To everyone who has followed AnandTech over the years, fans, foes, readers, competitors, academics, engineers, and just the technologically curious who want to learn a bit more about their favorite hardware, thank you for all of your patronage over the years. We could not have accomplished this without your support.

-Thanks,
Ryan Smith

Michael Suguitan is using a Raspberry Pi to monitor stray cats and automatically texts a photo of them when they're detected.

After guests' electricity use cost her thousands of dollars, an Airbnb host was forced to implement what she considers bizarre new rules for her guests.

If you attended Def Con in Las Vegas this year, you might want to know that your badge can run Doom smoothly with full audio support.

Wicked and Gladiator 2 have become the internet's new Barbenheimer, as the two movies now share the same release date.

Universal's film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked recently had its release date pulled forward to November 22, the same day as director Ridley Scott's Gladiator 2 comes out, and it didn't take long for the internet to see a golden opportunity for the two movies to be watched back-to-back as an unlikely double feature.

The viral sensation that was Barbenheimer celebrated the same-day release of Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer last year, and it seems cinemagoers are trying to recreate another two-movie marathon with memes, mash-ups, and more surfacing online as people make plans for Wicked and Gladiator 2.

me and the girls going from gladiator 2 to wicked on november 22 pic.twitter.com/DJCmAKcidV

— zoë rose bryant (@zoerosebryant) July 1, 2024

me showing up to the theatre on November 22 for a Wicked Gladiator double header#PumpRules #VanderpumpRules pic.twitter.com/SWKqSAr5w1

— T (@teewatterss) July 1, 2024

Wicked and Gladiator 2 coming out on the same day pic.twitter.com/mDlIhK1ugm

— Ryan Aguirre (@aguirreryan) July 2, 2024

5 tickets for GLADIATOR 2 and WICKED please pic.twitter.com/ktc4ldkROI

— shea (@sheanorling) July 2, 2024

Me on November 22 when I double feature Wicked & Gladiator 2: pic.twitter.com/jJ3cG0h7Me

— Jillian🫧 (@JillianChili) July 1, 2024

Wicked & Gladiator 2 coming out on the same day: pic.twitter.com/giSrm0aiN6

— Jillian🫧 (@JillianChili) July 1, 2024

Barbenheimer, of course, is a portmanteau of Barbie and Oppenheimer, but the nickname for the latest cinematic double bill is proving a little trickier for people to agree on. There has been everything from "Gladicked" to "Glicked" suggested, but "Wickiator" seems to be the top choice and the one the majority are going with.

“This Thanksgiving, prepare to get GLADICKED down” https://t.co/6EoTW8Gbwb

— Will Mavity (@mavericksmovies) July 1, 2024

Gladiator 2 & Wicked being released the same day = Wickedator 😂💀 https://t.co/U36u6C33eP

— Christian Cortave (@CCortave24) July 2, 2024

Okay I’m throwing out names:
-Wickiator
-Gladicked
-Widiator
-Glicked#Wicked #Gladiator2 pic.twitter.com/QGMP8U6LPc

— Kyle Arking 🟧(he/him) (@ArkingKyle) July 1, 2024

ok wicked and gladiator are releasing on the same day how are we branding this - i think it’s “Wickiator”

— ⪽mily (@culturedemily) July 1, 2024

Barbenheimer walked so Wickiator could run https://t.co/xdbxROzysM

— Kristin (@Kristin_Stahlke) July 1, 2024

Wickiator hive!!!!! pic.twitter.com/cNrXNs7ePc

— Rachel Leishman (@RachelLeishman) July 2, 2024

Wicked, the musical fantasy film about the witches of Oz, stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her unusual emerald-green skin who has yet to discover her true power, and Ariana Grande as Glinda, a bubbly blonde gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart.

Gladiator 2, on the other hand, returns to Rome several decades after the events of its predecessor, with a story that focuses on Paul Mescal's Lucius, Connie Nielsen's son from the first film who is now an adult and ready to fight as a recent set of first-look images saw him go up against Pedro Pascal's Roman general Marcus Acacius.

Wicked and Gladiator 2 both arrive in theaters on November 22 — the same month as Paddington in Peru, Moana 2, and more.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.

Twitch streamer Perri Karyal has taken down two major Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree bosses using a hands free 'mind control' virtual controller, which decodes electrical information fed directly from her brain in real time.

Prior to Shadow of the Erdtree’s release, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki was quoted as saying that the challenge posed by the DLC “really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player”. True to his word, the days following Shadow of the Erdtree’s June 21 launch have seen many players take to social media to lament that the new content is simply too hard, while others complained of performance issues, leading to a ‘mixed’ review on Steam.

However, its fearsome difficulty hasn’t stopped Karyal from attempting to take on the DLC using a very unconventional method of controlling her tarnished, which also proves that 90 percent of a FromSoftware boss fight plays out between the ears.

Thought I'd post a clip of what mental controls I use and how I get around

Getting to the boss is often harder than the boss😅#shadowoftheerdtree #EldenRing pic.twitter.com/RmetlwJb8h

— Perri (@perrikaryal) June 23, 2024

Karyal made headlines last year after beating Elden Ring’s base game content while using an electroencephalography (EEG) brain monitoring headset to control specific in-game actions such as attacking, and rolling. EEG technology is ordinarily used by physicians as a diagnostic tool. However, after encountering the brain-scanning headwear while studying for a masters degree in psychology she became curious as to whether the technology could be adapted to control video games as part of a virtual controller.

To that end Karyal was able to use some fancy coding to train the software that came with her commercial EEG headset to recognize patterns in her brain’s electrical activity that were brought about when she imagined a particular object, action, or emotion. Each pattern was then assigned to an input on a virtual controller, which allowed Karyal to execute actions with her mind by imagining things during gameplay. For example, by imagining herself pushing a cube forward she could execute a roll, or alternatively she could imagine a plate spinning to make her tarnished perform an attack, or simply make herself angry to heal.

WE DID IT

Shadow of the Erdtree, first boss, COMPLETED with mind control, and ZERO HANDS

I can't believe it. This was the hardest thing ever. We've come SO FAR! Let's gooooooo pic.twitter.com/INrwrgOH0Y

— Perri (@perrikaryal) June 22, 2024

WE DID IT AGAIN

Shadow of the Erdtree, SECOND boss, Renalla, DEFEATED with mind control, and ZERO HANDS. Absolutely INSANE

Let's gooooooooooo

If you have any questions, look at the full VOD below - I do set-up, training, and troubleshooting all LIVE pic.twitter.com/H0UpxUj8hz

— Perri (@perrikaryal) June 23, 2024

During the 2023 Elden Ring runthrough Karyal had still been beholden to a physical Xbox controller to dictate the movement of her tarnished warrier. However, for Shadow of the Erdtree, the streamer opted to attempt a completely hands-free run, by using eye-tracking software to track the movement of her head to control her character's movement, and voice prompts to trigger more nuanced actions, including saying “I choose you” to summon a spirit ash. Navigating to bosses also required a completely different command setup to the one used during the climactic fights themselves, adding another layer of mental gymnastics to the process.

Impressively, Karyal has already managed to use her mind-control approach to take down two challenging early DLC bosses in the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, and Rellana, the Twin Moon Knight. Of course this isn’t the first time that FromSoftware fans have employed a non-traditional controller to shame Elden Ring bosses. Just last year Twitch streamer MissMikkaa managed to beat two Malenias simultaneously in two separate instances of the game while using a Dance Pad and a PS5 DualSense. Another FromSoftware challenge runner by the name Dr. Decomposing was also able to complete a no-damage run while using a modified electric saxophone as a controller.

Be sure to check out IGN’s interactive map and comprehensive guide for all the tips, tricks, and walkthroughs that you need to get the most out of your time in the Land of Shadow, or read up on how modders are already finding ways to make the game easier on PC.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Murex Robotics, a high school robotics team, makes their world's-smallest network switch fully open-source. The move comes as part of their mission to democratize technology.

MGM+ has ordered an eight-episode series based on Stephen King’s 2019 novel, The Institute, Deadline reported this week. The novel follows the plight of 12-year-old Luke Ellis and a group of other children with telepathic and telekinetic abilities who have been kidnapped and held captive at a facility deep in the Maine woods, where their powers are being exploited. Their story becomes intertwined with that of an ex-cop Tim Jamieson. I really enjoyed this one when it came out, and as a lifelong King reader who has become hardened against the disappointment of terrible adaptations, I’m choosing to remain hopeful.

So far, all we know about the cast is that it includes Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone) as Jamieson and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) as the villainous Mrs. Sigsby, according to Deadline. The show has Benjamin Cavell on board as writer and executive producer. Cavell helmed 2020’s The Stand miniseries remake, which… well, it happened. Again, we’re staying hopeful here. Production starts later this year in Nova Scotia.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/one-of-stephen-kings-best-recent-novels-is-being-made-into-a-show-for-mgm-203220393.html?src=rss

Kids in Japan are set for a real treat later this month as a PC-building amusement center attraction opens at Kidzania Tokyo. From June 26, lucky children will be able to experience the daily work of a ‘PC Factory Worker,’ and assemble a computer, before attempting a first boot.

From wrongful medical advice to extremist views, Google’s bot is often dangerously wrong.

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy came out right around the time movie studios decided everything needed to be a big franchise that exists in perpetuity. From that perspective, it’s a little surprising that Warner Bros. Discovery hasn’t milked Tolkien’s work more than they already have. That’ll change soon, though, as the company just announced that there are two new Lord of the Rings films in the works (you can read the full press release here).

The first is tentatively titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and it’s being directed by Andy Serkis — you may remember him for his landmark performance as Gollum in Jackson’s prior movies. The fact that Serkis is on board, and working from a script by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens (who co-wrote the prior Middle-earth movies along with Jackson) has me feeling a bit better about this not being simply a crass cash grab. Peter Jackson, along with Walsh and Boyens, are set to produce as well. Serkis previously served as second unit director on The Hobbit films and also directed 2022’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

Given the working title of the film, you won’t be surprised to learn that Serkis is also starring again as the titular Gollum. While part of me was interested to see how another actor might take on the character, Serkis so defined Gollum for the big screen that it’s almost impossible to put anyone else in the role. As for what the movie will cover, there’s no official word yet — but again, the title indicates it’ll take place between the events of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings as Gandalf and Aragorn search Middle-earth for Gollum, trying to learn more about the ring that Bilbo and then Frodo possessed. 

Given Hollywood’s insatiable thirst for Content based on Popular Franchises, it’s a little surprising something like this didn’t happen sooner. Jackson and company followed up the original trilogy of films nine years later with the bloated and overly CGI-reliant film series based on The Hobbit and corresponding events from Tolkien’s LOTR appendices. And, of course, Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series debuted in 2022. And before The Hunt for Gollum arrives, we’ll see another intriguing project: an anime-style film called The War of the Rohirrim. That movie arrives this December and covers events in Rohan a few hundred years before The Lord of the Rings.

As a massive Lord of the Rings fan, I’m both skeptical and excited by this announcement. The sad reality of the entertainment world is that projects like this are going to happen no matter what; there’s too much money wrapped up in things like Lord of the Rings to not try and extract more. But Serkis seems like an excellent choice to direct this movie, and hopefully they’ll find a tight, self-contained story that works as a standalone film. The mess that was made in the Hobbit films has me wary, but even in those movies I found plenty of things to enjoy — and this feels like a good opportunity to chart a positive course forward for more movies in Middle-earth.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-new-lord-of-the-rings-film-the-hunt-for-gollum-will-hit-theaters-in-2026-140141386.html?src=rss

Developer forum Stack Overflow was met with intense backlash from users over its partnership with OpenAI and the decision to scrape the site's answers for AI training; attempts to delete or edit questions and answers are met with bans.

The University of Maine just unveiled the world’s largest polymer 3D printer. The new printer, named Factory of the Future 1.0 (FoF 1.0), can print objects as large as 96 feet long by 32 feet wide by 18 feet high. It’s also quite speedy, relatively speaking, as it can print up to 500 pounds per hour. That’s like three people, every hour.

It can dynamically switch between printing techniques to suit different aspects of complex jobs. The printer can flip between large-scale additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, continuous tape layup and robot arm operations. These technologies make the printer uniquely suited for a number of industries, including housing, infrastructure and the development of military vehicles.

Most of the stuff it makes is recyclable, so “you can basically deconstruct it, grind it up if you wish” and “do it again”, according to Dr. Habib Dagher, the Director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine. To that end, the printer prioritizes biobased materials, like wood residuals.

This tech seems like a great way to build a ton of affordable housing quickly and that’s exactly what some proponents have in mind. “Maine needs an estimated 80,000 additional homes by 2030, many specifically for households with incomes at or below the area median income,” said MaineHousing’s Development Director Mark Wiesendanger. “This effort creates another means of producing quality affordable housing, while further driving costs down, and using abundant wood residuals from Maine sawmills.” AP suggests the printer “may one day create entire neighborhoods.” The specs indicate that it should be able to make a modest single-story home in around 80 hours.

However, this is America, so it’s not like people built this thing just to help the unhoused. UMaine researchers received funding from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy. These governmental institutions are going to want a return on their investment, so the printer will also likely be used to whip up lightweight rapidly deployable vessels, like submarines and other maritime vehicles. Senator Susan Collins called the printer “invaluable to our national security."

The FoF 1.0 has a sibling printer on the UMaine campus, which was the previous record holder for the world’s largest 3D printer. It’s already been used to manufacture a 600-square-foot, single-family home made of wood fiber and bioresin materials. The new printer, however, is four times the size. Luckily, the two models are housed in the same location and can work on different aspects of the same projects simultaneously.

The University of Maine will soon break ground on a new research laboratory called the Green Engineering and Materials (GEM) Factory of the Future. This will be the new home of both printers, with a primary aim to “facilitate and scale up more sustainable manufacturing practices.” It will also likely house even larger printers in the future. “We’re learning from this to design the next one,” Dr. Dagher told ABC News.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-worlds-biggest-3d-printer-can-a-make-a-house-in-under-80-hours-155256122.html?src=rss

The new trailer is here!

The latest Deadpool & Wolverine trailer has arrived, and we finally have a sense of what's going on in this movie and who the villain is. Emma Corrin takes on the role of Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier's evil twin sister (Don't worry, we'll get into that) for the next Deadpool movie. Obviously, Ryan Reynolds returns to the role of Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine. However, there is a lot more happening in this trailer than meets the eye. There is a lot more to learn compared to the last one.

Scouring through every moment of the movie, we found plenty of Easter eggs, references, and more information about the movie--along with nods to the comics that introduced these characters as well. So we're breaking down what we found and presenting it to you.

Deadpool & Wolverine is directed by Shawn Levy (Stranger Things, Free Guy, The Adam Project) and written by Levy, Reynolds, and Rhett Reese (Twisted Metal, Deadpool, Deadpool 2). It hits theaters on July 26.

Typical recruitment

Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) sure does spend a lot of time in bars, right? Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) tries to recruit him for his mission early on in the trailer. Per usual, Wolvie isn't interested. This scene may feel a little familiar, and that's because it happened once in X-Men: First Class. Professor X and Magneto are recruiting mutants for their team, and they stumble upon Wolverine in a bar, they introduce themselves, to which Logan replies, "Go f**k yourself." That doesn't happen directly here, but it's very reminiscent of that moment.

Some Deadpool humor

At this point, is anyone not familiar with who Deadpool is and what he's about? For the sake of this piece and the one person interested in the trailer that may not be, Deadpool is an antihero Marvel mutant who is a satire of over-the-top, badass assassins that comic book companies were churning out over and over again. His creation took a lot of inspiration from DC's assassin Deathstroke, who was a very serious killer. Deadpool is known for being comedic, so having the words, "Smile. Wait for the flash" on the end of his gun, is par for the course when it comes to this character's brand.

Some quick Wolverine background

Wolverine's long history is more convoluted than a five-minute Tik Tok video showing you a toilet cleaning "hack," which involves at least seven different cleaning products. Here's the super-duper basics. He's also an antihero, primarily known for being a member of the X-Men (along with X-Force, Alpha Flight, The Avengers, and even the Fantastic Four--well, the "New" Fantastic Four). He has a healing factor almost as good as Deadpool's, and he also has his entire skeleton--and claws protruding from his hands--covered in adamantium, the second strongest metal, behind Vibranium. So, when someone pulls a gun on him and points it at his head, he has no problem getting shot. It's just going to hurt, a lot.

Also, fun note: Wolverine is always drinking in bars, but according to the comics, his body processes the alcohol so quickly that he really can't get drunk, and if he does, it's only for like a second after pounding a bottle of hard alcohol.

20th Century Fox logo

As mentioned in the previous trailer breakdown, the 20th Century Fox logo has been destroyed. Originally, that film studio had the rights to all the X-Men characters, so if you saw an X-Men movie, a Wolverine movie, or the first two Deadpool movies, 20th Century Fox was the distributor of those.

Wolverine's suit

The original Wolverine suit--when he first appeared in an issue of Incredible Hulk--was a sleeveless yellow and blue suit. However, he's had plenty of notable costume changes: yellow and brown, Weapon X, his all-black X-Force outfit. This one mostly resembles his look from 2004's Astonishing X-Men with a few homages to his appearance in 1975's Giant-Sized X-Men.

What happened to Wolverine's world?

Apparently, "this Wolverine let down his entire world." The imagery above is interesting, but we couldn't make a connection to anything in the comics, not even Genosha. However, Wolverine letting his entire world down is the backstory of the comic Old Man Logan, where Wolverine was tricked into killing all of the X-Men by an illusion created by Mysterio. That, along with Red Skull killing the Avengers and Hulk becoming an incestual in-breeder, created this Max Max-like wasteland world, which we see something reminiscent in the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine.

Third act flashback

Deadpool asks Wolverine what went wrong or if we should wait for a "third act flashback." While that's a very traditional tool of storytelling, that's what happens at the tail end of Act Two of the Old Man Logan. I was hoping for Act Three, but after checking my comics, nope: Act Two.

Copper Heads

The bar in the background says "Copper Heads," but what does that mean? Well, there are two Copperheads in the Marvel comics universe: one is a mantle for a vigilante and the other is a really silly villain. Let's quickly discuss the latter. Copperhead (Davis Lawfers) is a Captain America villain and a member of the snake-themed terrorist group the Serpent Society. Yes, all of the member's names are snake-related. It's a pretty lame character and only memorable because of how silly it all is. As a side note, the Serpent Society might be a part of the next Captain America movie. Hey, if they made Batroc interesting, then Serpent Society shouldn't be a problem.

Liefeld's Just Feet

Rob Liefeld is one of the creators of Deadpool (along with Fabian Nicieza) and Liefeld is known for his artistic style, which dominated a lot of the mutant books during the '80s and '90s. However, Liefeld took a lot of criticism for either hiding characters' feet in fog or behind rubble because when he did draw feet, some people didn't like how they looked. Hence, we get that "Liefeld's Just Feet" store in this scene.

Cassandra Nova

Here's the villain of the story. Now, let's get into the super-weird backstory of this character. Cassandra Nova is the twin of Charles Xavier. She's a "Mummudrai," a Shi-ar word that means "anti-self." Every living being has one of these on the Astral Plane. Cassandra was the Mummudrai of Charles. In the womb, Charles could sense Cassandra was evil, and use his psychic powers to attack her--again, in the womb. This led to Cassandra being stillborn and Charles surviving. Stay with us, her body clung to sewer walls and started building itself for decades, and this entire time, she planned revenge on Charles. Yes, that is all canon.

She has all the same powers as Xavier. In addition, she can heal faster than a human, she has telekinesis, can phase through solid matter, create mutations in people with latent mutant abilities, and she can manipulate people's DNA. Yep, that's all her powers. It's a lot.

Giant/Ant Man's head

There's a close-up above, but Nova's base is in a Ant-Man suit, in giant form. Ant-Man is very much dead. In the Old Man Logan story, there is the skeleton and suit of Giant Man--Scott Lang--in the desert.

There's also a lot of returning characters. Let's take a look at who we recognize.

Lady Deathstrike and maybe more?

The woman on the right here is Lady Deathstrike, who appeared in X2. She was originally played by Kelly Hu. The remaining characters in this image--from left to right could be Calisto, Toad, and Starfish or Glob Hermman. All of these characters appeared in former X-Men/Wolverine movies, and since the Deadpool films love to pull from past X-movies, there's a good chance we know these characters already.

Azazel and maybe more?

All the way on the left, there's Azazel, from X-Men: First Class. From there, it gets pretty tricky to figure out who everyone is. We have a few guesses, the man in the red and white striped shirt could be Colossus, even if Stefan Kapicic is reprising his role as the character, which we saw in the first trailer, but Colossus did have a sweet beard in the comics for a hot minute. And this is the multiverse, so anything is possible. It could even be The Russian (played by Kevin Nash) from 2004's The Punisher. Continuing on, based on the color scheme of the person directly to the right of the man in red and white, that could be Pyro, who we saw in the first trailer as well. Sabretooth is allegedly in this movie too, so maybe one of these guys is him? Regardless, the majority of these characters are notable to comic book or X-Men movie fans.

Dogpool

Dogpool is a real character in the comics. It's Wade Wilson from Earth-103173. He was created in 2010 and has the same powers as Deadpool. Also, the look on Wolverine's face when Dogpool licks Deadpool is priceless.

Teleporting?

Wolverine and Deadpool are jumping out of Ant-Man's skull, away from Cassandra Nova, into an inter-dimensional portal, which are typically created by Sling Rings. Where are they going? Who knows? But more people than Wong or Strange can use Sling Rings. Ned was able to create portals using the ring in Spider-Man: No Way Home. So there's a small chance we could see Ned again--or Wong or Strange or someone completely different with this ability.

Another look

Typically, when you're jumping into these portals, you can see where you're headed, but we believe this particular moment in the trailer has been censored so we can't see where they are headed because it may ruin the story.

Everything we gathered from this trailer

Here's what we know, based on this trailer. Deadpool is working with the TVA and traveling in the multiverse and needs to enlist the help of Wolverine. Wolverine's world (whether it's the wasteland we primarily see in the trailer or another one) is possibly under control by Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier's evil twin sister. Wolverine and Deadpool team up in order to stop her. Most likely, Nova's a possible menace to the multiverse, and that's why Wolverine and Deadpool need to work together. There will also be a lot of familiar faces in this movie. However, Wade will not be using cocaine, as he promised his friends he would not do so.

Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26.

TCL's first original movie is an AI-generated romance film, and a trailer for it was released today on YouTube.